


Wolves and Nests

by unpathdwaters



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Cuddling & Snuggling, Full Shift Werewolves, M/M, Nesting, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 20:58:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unpathdwaters/pseuds/unpathdwaters
Summary: When your goalie needs you, you don't say no. When your goalie needs you and your boyfriend, you don't say no to that either.





	Wolves and Nests

It took a few moments for Mitch to realize that someone was standing in front of him. In his defense, the locker room smelled particularly gross after the morning's practice and yes, he was a wolf with a heightened sense of smell but they were professional hockey players with professional stink. He looked up and grinned when he realized that it was Auston. "What's wrong?" He asked, smile dropping when he saw Auston's confused expression.

"Freddie just asked me if he could borrow you?" His boyfriend told him, his voice going up at the end as if it was a question.

"What the fuck?" Mitch looked around the locker room but their goalie was no where to be seen. "What do you mean?"

"Um, I think." Auston looked a little embarrassed. He wouldn't meet Mitch's eyes and he was slouched a little bit, hands in his pockets. "I think it was about nesting, maybe?"

Mitch resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Americans were sometimes so weird about goalie nesting. "I'm my own person," Mitch reminded himself more than Auston. "He could have just asked me." He was going to add that they weren't even mated yet either but Auston got a little red around the tips of his ears whenever someone mentioned mating, even if it wasn't directed at the two of them. It was sweet but it'd make them both distracted and Mitch had to stay focused. Nesting was serious business especially when it came to team dynamics.

"I'm aware," Auston rushed to say. Mitch wasn't so sure about that. "He knows that too. I think he was mostly giving me a heads up as a courtesy, honestly."

"I mean...it's not completely out there but," Mitch bit his lip, "Still, normally I would be present for that conversation too."

Auston shrugged. Mitch could tell he was torn between supporting his team's goalie and his boyfriend. "Maybe he had an incident with someone before and didn't want to risk asking without an immediate answer?" He suggested. Mitch looked at Auston curiously. Maybe he had had more experience with nesting than he let on.

"Could be." Mitch swiped at his phone and started making a list. "Is my Knights sweatshirt still at your apartment?"

"Which one-" Auston didn't look too thrown by the abrupt change in conversation. He was used to Mitch.

"The black one."

"Yeah, you want to pack it? I'll bring it over tonight." Mitch smiled at him, pleased that Auston didn't even question Mitch's involvement in nesting. If Freddie was going to ask him, Mitch was going to be prepared. They were a team pack. He perked up when he saw Freddie come back into the locker room and head straight for him. Auston saw him too and scooted a little way away, to his own locker.

Freddie stopped in front of Mitch and waved Mitch away when he started to stand. "No, sit please." Freddie's voice seemed calm but Mitch tried to pay attention to his teammates. He could tell that something was a little off. Maybe Freddie was closer to nesting than anyone thought. He didn't think Freddie had nested over the all-star break. Maybe he just really needed it.

"I heard that you're good for nesting," Freddie said quickly. "I mean- that you're good at it." He seemed embarrassed by his own inability to chill. Mitch understood. Freddie was normally calm, quiet and put-together. Nesting was a whole new ballgame. A different side of Freddie completely and goalies never liked losing control. That's what nesting was all about. "You were a good captain." It wasn't a question. He had clearly asked around about Mitch. Possibly even about the whole team to see who would fit the best. It was practical.

"Parsons?" Mitch asked fondly and Freddie nodded. Mitch took pride in being able to nest properly with his goalies while being captain in the OHL. He had always assumed the captain or alternates in the NHL would do it, not a rookie. The league was full of surprises.

It was a tricky thing. If someone was going to stay in a goalie's nest, they had to have a good temperament, the ability to go with the flow, or in Mitch's case, fall asleep almost anywhere and eat anything given to him. There was one point where Parsons, who was only sixteen at the time, had just fed Mitch burnt eggs and buttered toast for four days. Mitch let himself be "taken care of" by the young goalie regardless, even letting Parsons herd him around his billet family's home when they were both in wolf form when the anxious beginnings of the nesting had occurred.

"Mo didn't seem to comfortable when I brought it up. He said yes but..." Freddie trailed off, staring distractedly at Mitch's fingers toying with the laces on his skates. "He's not a wolf. I think he confused it with denning," Freddie shook his head. Humans. Denning and nesting were totally different for werewolves. No one was pregnant and no one would be denning.

"He's never done it before?" Mitch was surprised. It wasn't unheard of for humans to nest with werewolf goalies, especially team captains of any sport.

"I didn't want to push him," Freddie said. "You have though." It wasn't a question.

"A few times," Mitch nodded. "You already talked to Auston."

"I figured he would tell you," Freddie didn't look too happy at that. "I wanted to be open with him. But I didn't want there to be any...it's intimate sometimes. Not always but sometimes." He seemed embarrassed. "I've never done it with someone who was dating someone else on the team." Mitch gave him that, it was certainly not a situation he had experienced before either.

"It can be," Mitch agreed. "But I would understand if you had asked him too. It's part of playing hockey."

"Sometimes Americans..." Freddie let his sentence trail off.

"Sure," Mitch acquiesced. "I think he learned a lot in Switzerland though."

"He was a little confused but mostly very respectful," Freddie assured him. Mitch nodded, giving him permission to continue. "Mitchell Marner, would you do me the honor of allowing me to take you and your wolf into my home during my upcoming nesting period?"

Mitch took a deep breath and grabbed both of Freddie's hands in his own. "Frederick Anderson. It would be my honor to spend time in your nest with you. I'm under your protection and trust that you will keep mine, yours, and the team's best interests as we come together to prepare for..." Mitch though about it for the moment. "The upcoming playoffs," he finished, improvising what would have been the normal script. Freddie looked pleased that Mitch had remembered the formal acceptance response. Mitch mentally reminded himself not to forget his toothbrush.

  
=======

  
Wolf Freddie was bigger than Mitch. Mitch knew this, he remembered it from full moon runs with the team. He just wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of space that Freddie's large rusty wolf took up. Mitch wasn't a small wolf, he hadn't been cub-sized since he was fifteen when he had chased Dylan's tail around the Strome's backyard. Freddie made all wolves on the team, even Auston but especially Mitch, look like cubs.

Mitch was curled up on a large couch cushion as Freddie growled at blankets and pillows that weren't in the right spot on top of his throw rug. Mitch always forgot that the first day or two of nesting was literal nesting. He offered yips of encouragement and occasional licks but Freddie always worriedly herded him back to the couch cushion.

It was another hour and two shredded blankets later that Freddie turned back into a human. "It's not right," he grumbled.

"Okay, what do you think is missing?" Mitch said easily, shifting back but still remaining on the couch cushion.

Freddie felt warmed. Mitch understood. He had known Mitch would be a good nesting partner and he was right. If his instincts were right about that, they had to be right about the nest too. Something was missing.

"Big?" Freddie said suddenly.

"It's too big?" Mitch asked.

It was big but it had to fit over the throw rug that had a large diameter in Freddie's front room. It was bigger than the nest he had made last time even with the same rug. He could make it smaller but...

Freddie looked between the two of them. "Small."

"We're too small? Buddy, you're a tank and I'm...not as short as I was last year."

"It's not. It's..."

Mitch held out his hand and Freddie walked towards him to take hold of it. "Come see things from over here. I've been watching, right? I'm seeing what you're seeing but I have a little bit more of the picture."

Freddie curled up next to Mitch on the couch, not bothering to leave any space. It was almost nesting time and his nest wasn't right. His chin was on Mitch's head and he was practically coiled around the forward like a snake as opposed to a wolf.

"Did you feel drawn towards anyone else on the team?" Mitch asked, quiet and innocent, just easy curiosity in his voice. Freddie tensed up but Mitch used both hands and rubbed them up and down his arms, soothing him.

"Auston. You went to ask Auston about me, remember? Do you think you wanted Auston here instead? He's a little bigger." Mitch asked gently. Freddie shook his head, confused. That wasn't it then. Mitch felt right. Mitch being on the couch cushion felt right and Mitch would go in the nest once the nest was right.

"Bud, you said the nest was too big. Did you want Auston in here with us? You know you can nest with more than one person, right? If it feels right, you could nest with the whole team if you wanted to."

Freddie frowned and growled a little. "Okay sure, not the whole team, but Auston?" Freddie tilted his head to the side, considering and then he gave Mitch a helpless look. He had hit the nail on the head. The nest was big enough, they were just missing the third person needed to fill it.

Freddie tensed up again. He had messed up. Mitch started to speak again, "Yeah, this is a little backwards. You won't be able to do the ritual question but he already said yes, remember?" He fibbed slightly. "You asked him and then you asked me. He agreed."

"Agreed," Freddie repeated. Auston had agreed. Mitch wouldn't lie to him. Mitch was right. Auston would come.

"Do you want me to call him?" Mitch offered after a few moments of silence and Freddie staring at the nest.

"Phone," was Freddie's only reply. Great. So they were already at that point of nesting. Mitch took the initiative and reached up to pet Freddie's hair as he dialed.

Auston answered quickly. Almost too quickly. He had dropped Mitch off at Freddie's only a few hours ago and Mitch was pretty sure he'd gone around his apartment to mope a little bit. "Mitch," he said breathlessly. "How's it going? I didn't expect to hear from you and-"

"Babe," Mitch said fondly. He knew it wasn't just his missing presence that had Auston climbing up walls. "We're all good here. We're just missing something."

"Missing?" Auston's voice sounded adorably confused. His wolf knew he was supposed to be somewhere else. The temporary nesting bond had gotten a hold of them all faster than expected. Mitch pushed away the warm and fuzzy feelings he had-- the pride from Auston respecting his wishes and staying away during the nesting even though his body was sending him mixed signals.

"Yeah," Mitch's voice got softer for both Auston and Freddie's sake. "Freddie's nest is a little too big and he's never had a nesting bond happen in threes before.

"I'm missing," Auston said dumbly. Oh boy. Mitch was going to have to order him a car. Maybe Willy could drive him over. Mitch had to do everything here.

"I need you to stay on the phone with me and get your travel duffel, okay, Auston?" Mitch knew he should have FaceTime'd Auston cause he knew his boyfriend was nodding his head at Mitch's voice right now. "Okay let's start with your toothbrush..."

Forty-five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Freddie growled at it and Mitch shushed him. "It's Auston, remember? For the nest." Freddie growled softer. "William dropped him off. We know William. We like William." Freddie did not stop growling and Mitch gave up.

"Really Mitchy? Both of them?"

"Bye Willy." Mitch rolled his eyes and shut the door. "Talk to you in a few days," he called through the wood. "Hey sweetheart," he said to Auston, who looked more alert now that his wolf had settled. Freddie herded the two of them back towards the living room, barely letting Auston take off his shoes. Instead of having them sit on the couch cushion, he put them right in the nest.

Freddie let out a little howl of satisfaction even in his human form before moving onto the next part of his mental checklist.

"So we just sit here and he feeds us?" Auston asked, a little returned to his senses now that he was in the nest.

"Cuddles too. Those are very important," Mitch wrapped an arm around Auston's waist and tucked his face into Auston's neck. Through one eye, he could still see Freddie moving around them.

"No wonder you get asked to nest," Auston teased but Mitch didn't smile.

"It's not just-" Mitch lowered his voice until Freddie was out of the room. He could hear Freddie moving slowly and methodically around in his kitchen. "It's about safety. He'll patrol, he'll add to the nest. He has complete control over it. After a hard loss or a long stretch, the goalie's net doesn't feel like they're own anymore and they certainly can't do something like this during a game or practice but they can nest. It's normally with a player from the team, usually a captain or at least someone they're close with to show that they're a good goalie and protect the nest. If this area is the net, nothing goes in or out unless he says. We protect him during games, he protects us now. He's showing us that he's worthy of being his teammate. You have to take this seriously."

"I...I will," Auston said dumbly. He hadn't expected Mitch's speech. No wonder he had been made captain of his OHL team. "I'll respect it, I swear."

"I know. You wouldn't be here otherwise," Mitch said simply. He cuddled closer to Auston as Freddie came back into the room with sandwiches. Auston looped one arm around Mitch's waist, resting his fingers on Mitch's stomach. With his other hand, he reached towards one of the sandwiches but stopped when Freddie made a noise.

"He'll feed us," Mitch murmured. Now that all three of them were back in the same room, Mitch and Auston felt themselves leaning on wolf instincts more than anything else. Mitch opened his mouth and Freddie made a pleased noise. He ripped off a piece of one of the sandwiches and placed it in Mitch's mouth.

Mitch gave a little happy appreciative moan and cuddled closer to Auston who followed Mitch's lead and opened his mouth. Freddie nodded approvingly, putting a piece from a different sandwich in Auston's mouth. The goalie's eyes were constantly moving from his wolves to the room to the windows, constantly keeping watch and keeping them safe.

Before Freddie could feed them again, Mitch whined a little. He scooted away from Auston and whined louder. Freddie didn't look too happy about it but he obliged, scooting into the nest between Auston and Mitch and oh-- this is what Mitch had been talking about. Auston felt warm and safe and protected. Freddie was here. He had checked the house, he had fed them, and he was sticking close to them.

The sandwich tray lay forgotten on the floor and now, Auston desperately wanted to be in wolf form. He looked to his two companions and saw he was already behind. Freddie was nudging a wriggling wolf Mitch back into place in the nest, huffing as Mitch kept darting in to lick his muzzle. Freddie turned towards Auston and huffed, as if to say, "You deal with this all the time?"

Auston smirked and shifted into his wolf. Freddie leapt from the pile of pillows and blankets and circled him, leaning down to touch his nose to Auston's, giving him a warm and low grumble. He herded Auston right back into the nest where a waiting Mitch reached to Auston both of their muzzles. Once Auston was pressed against Mitch and on the right amount of blankets, Freddie curled around them both, keeping them out of sight from any of the windows.

Mitch was right-- Auston felt protected. He trusted Freddie more than ever. He could get used to nesting with their goalie.


End file.
